Il coyote - The Coyote

La gara è fra il coyote e una stella A chi sa e vuol raccontare Il gruppo più fantastico di storie Che si possa ricordare Ma mentre il coyote è un mancatore di parola e un mentitore La stella che cadente è la più bella Con la coda che si muove con splendore E su una pietra i due stan nel fuoco della notte A raccontarsi a turno con le voci calde o rotte La stella parla adagio e il coyote grida forte Buttati in questo gioco, per chi perde c'è la morte Ma col passar del tempo La stella fa fatica a raccontare E invece le parole del coyote corrono Come acqua di un fiume verde verso il mare E mentre passa il vento o in alto o un'aquila si desta (E carica di voci, luci è tutta la foresta La notte passa e il cielo, il cielo è rosso di mattina) Finisce questa gara incominciata dal destino La stella allora si dichiara spenta e muore Ed ora è un pugno di cenere il suo splendore Perché vince il coyote Il racconto non lo dice, ma lo lascia immaginare La vita è fantasia, è coraggio È lotta dura con la voglia di inventare E se la stella con la coda tante storie raccontava La fantasia del coyote col suo fuoco la bruciava E poi faceva ascoltare l'erba crescere sulla mano O il grido della risacca di un prossimo uragano Il coyote © 1971 Lucio Dalla, Roberto Roversi Indeed, why did the coyote win?

The race is between the coyote and a star to whoever knows and wants to recount the most fantastic group in history that one can remember. But while the coyote is a betrayer of words and a liar, the star that falls is the most beautiful, with the tail that moves with spendor. And on a rock the two are there in the fire of the night to swap tales with voices hot or broken. The star speaks slowly and the coyote shouts loudly, thrown into this game - for whoever loses there is death. But with the passing of time, the star struggles to narrate, and instead the words of the coyote run like the water of a green river towards the sea. And while the wind passes either higher or an eagle awakens (and full of voices, lights is the entire forest, the night passes and the sky, the sky is morning red), this race ends, started by destiny. The star is then declared spent and dead, and now a fistful of ashes is its splendor. Why did the coyote win? The account doesn’t say, but leaves it to imagine. Life is fantasy, it is courage, it is hard struggle with the will to invent. And if the star with the tail recounted many tales, the fantasy of the coyote with its fire burned her, and then made her listen to grass growing on the hand, or the screaming of the surf of an upcoming hurricane. English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser Il giorno aveva cinque teste was Dalla's fourth album and the first of a trio of albums in partnership with the poet Roberto Roversi. Before this album, Dalla's main partners as lyricists were Sergio Bardotti, Gianfranco Baldazzi, and Paola Pallottino. But Dalla was tired of writing songs he considered little more than simple ditties (his first love was jazz), and he wanted to develop a new approach with weightier lyrics. The new collaboration with Roversi allowed Dalla to explore new realms of composition, freer and more experimental. While sales were low, the album was well-received by critics and fellow musicians, and helped put Dalla on the map as an important emerging artist. The fruitful relationship with Roversi ended after their third album, over lyrics that the label wanted to tone down; Dalla was amenable, but Roversi was outraged and the album was released using a pseudonym for the poet.